


J'attendrai

by Aurea_Aetas



Category: Bright Young Things
Genre: M/M, Miles gets a happy ending, Phone Calls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-19 23:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19982392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurea_Aetas/pseuds/Aurea_Aetas
Summary: Adam receives a phone call from a ghost, long after the world ends.





	J'attendrai

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted to my tumblr @wildeoscars

Adam had gotten himself a respectable job in a factory. All he had to do was flash his honors and it was an easy hire. He was fine at it, though it left him too tired to do much writing these days. Nina had been able to leave the workforce, his job setting her up to be a comfortable housewife. Tommy was doing well in school. They were considering a second child.

In all, it was a perfectly acceptable life. And he found it utterly _dull._

It was one of the many dull evenings in his new life. Nina was out with a couple of her girlfriends seeing a late film, Tommy was asleep, and Adam found himself sitting alone in front of the fireplace with a snifter of brandy–too tired to pursue one of his old passions, but too awake to go right to bed.

The silence of the room was interrupted by the shrill ring of the telephone that sat on the side table to Adam’s left. He glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner, ticking away steadily just past 11:00. Who could have possibly been calling him at such a late hour? Before, back in his misspent youth that really hadn’t been so long ago, he wouldn’t have questioned a late-night caller. Now, he wondered what sort of bad news awaited him on the other line.

“Hello?”

_“Adam, darling! You’ve no idea how dreadfully difficult it was to find your new number.”_

The voice was immediately recognizable, taking Adam back to the last time he had heard it. A cold asylum. Bitter alcohol. Agatha’s medicated ravings. And Miles had been there, a beacon of light even as the world seemed to be ending: _“Miles is in a scrape again!”_ he had joked, even through sniffling tears.

Adam felt nauseous.

He had thought…well. He didn’t quite like what he had just assumed happened to his old friend. He had visited camps after liberation, he had seen what went on there, _who_ went there. Paris hadn’t been the safe-haven that Miles had perhaps thought.

But luck had always been on his side in the end, hadn’t it.

Adam swallowed the lump in his throat, but couldn’t control the waver in his voice as he finally responded. “Miles? Where are you, how did you–”

_“Now, now, dear, there’s no need for waterworks. We really haven’t the time. You must come rescue me.”_

“Rescue you?”

_“Yes. I’m terribly bored, you see.”_

Adam couldn’t stop the laugh that erupted from his throat. Years of silence, years of assuming the worst had happened to him, and Miles’ main concern was still boredom. “Well, why don’t you go out?” He asked, smiling earnestly for the first time in what felt like decades. When was the last time he had even gone out? Had he ever experienced postwar London’s nightlife? Did it even exist anymore as it had been?

A heaving sigh on the other line told him to prepare for a grand declaration.

_“I would love to. There’s a magnificent bar just off the Seine that just opened, but my husband is being a terrible **bore.** ”_

He wondered what poor man Miles managed to drag along with his eccentricities this time, how long it would last. He always went through “husbands” faster than most clothing designers went through fads.

_“Sweetheart, don’t be such a brute. Say hello to him!"_ The words were no longer directed at Adam, but to the mysterious Husband in question. A smaller voice responded, muffled by distance: _“I don’t think that would be such a good idea–”_

_“Oh you never think. Come now.”_ The short lover’s tiff ended with a smacking kiss and the shuffle of the phone being passed over, and Adam’s question was finally answered.

_“…Hullo, Adam.”_

“Good lord, Ginger, is that you?” He nearly dropped the phone in his surprise. Ginger was supposed to be off in America avoiding his problems, not in France shacking up with Miles. But in a way he wasn’t wholly surprised. He was a fickle man, easily swayed. Miles’ personality was just big enough of a tidal wave for someone like Ginger to be easily caught up in it.

_“How are Nina and the boy?”_

“She’s….They’re fine. But how did you end up with Miles?”

_“Long story, that.”_ There was a laugh on the other line, lighter and more carefree than Adam had ever heard from the timid man. _“Got caught in a French train station due to weather and just…decided to stay.”_

_“He saw this dashing creature, a vision in emerald and gold, and simply threw his bags right into the bin! He couldn’t resist!”_ Miles interjected.

_“Yes, darling, a vision,”_ Ginger placated him, before continuing, _“Miles rather…helped me, I think. Got me out of my shell. Do you know that we’d never actually talked when we were both in England? Ran in the same circles, but never quite touched. And now, we’re married.”_

“Married?” Adam asked, his disbelief obvious in his tone. Miles could use the term all he liked, and he often did, but when it all came down to it, it was still wholly illegal no matter what country they were in.

_“There are crooked priests in every country, Adam my dear. I assure you it’s quite official. As official as crooked weddings can be,”_ Miles explained with a giggle, and Adam could practically see his smug, scheming expression. The look was burned into his mind after years of said schemes. _“He got me a spectacular ring, you know. All diamonds and sapphires and as big as my eye, I swear.”_

“Putting that money to good use, then.” Adam mused with a chuckle, leaning back on the couch. He still found it hard to believe. The great, untameable Miles Maitland, tamed. Well, perhaps not wholly tamed.

_“Y-Yes well,”_ Ginger cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed at the mentioning of their Gentleman's Agreement. _“Rather rushed into the first one. Decided to do this one right.”_

“It seems like you have. Like you both have.” Though it was quite unexpected, Adam found himself happy for the odd couple. Even through the phone it was obvious how besotted they both were. Deep down, Ginger was a good man. He would treat Miles well. Lord knew Miles deserved some kindness after everything.

_“Oh yes, yes, Father treats Mother well. He’s truly a lovely man, huzzah. But I’m still so very bored, Adam!”_ Miles whined, taking the phone back for himself. _“You must come visit sometime. Bring Nina, bring the child, even. I think I would be a lovely godmother.”_

“Yes, I think you might,” Adam replied, the smile still lingering on his lips. “I’ll see what I can do.”

_“Oh, you’re a doll. Now you must keep me updated. None of this radio silence from now on, do you hear me?”_

“Of course, Miles.”

_“Lovely. I’ll be seeing you, dear. Give the family my regards. It’s off to the bar for Ginger and I.”_ There was an exclamation of protest from Ginger, and Miles laughed as he hung up the phone. The sound rang in Adam’s ears, long after he hung up as well.

A trip to Paris wouldn’t be _too_ terribly expensive…

Perhaps the world hadn’t ended all those years ago, after all.


End file.
